diff --git a/src/backend/distributed/utils/node_metadata.c b/src/backend/distributed/utils/node_metadata.c
index ecac82267..70eac464f 100644
--- a/src/backend/distributed/utils/node_metadata.c
+++ b/src/backend/distributed/utils/node_metadata.c
@@ -1065,14 +1065,14 @@ ParseWorkerNodeFileAndRename()
 		workerNodeList = lappend(workerNodeList, workerNode);
 	}
 
-	FreeFile(workerFileStream);
-	free(workerFilePath);
-
 	/* rename the file, marking that it is not used anymore */
 	appendStringInfo(renamedWorkerFilePath, "%s", workerFilePath);
 	appendStringInfo(renamedWorkerFilePath, ".obsolete");
 	rename(workerFilePath, renamedWorkerFilePath->data);
 
+	FreeFile(workerFileStream);
+	free(workerFilePath);
+
 	return workerNodeList;
 }